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"A Summary of the Theology of the Body"

By Annie Vining MTh, President TOBET

"A Summary of the Theology of the Body" is a reflection given to about 200 parishioners from St. Jude Catholic Church in Allen TX on 5/1/05
©2005

Summary of the Theology of the Body Talk for St. Jude May 1, 2005

  1. TOB intro
    1. Announced by John Paul II in the first 5 years of his pontificate at the Wed. audiences
    2. It encapsulates the idea that we can come to know about God by looking at the body and that we can come to understand the body by looking at God
  2. God is love
    1. In the Trinity the divine persons give themselves eternally to one another
    2. The Holy Spirit is the "fruit" of the love between the Father and Son
  3. Man is the image of God (as love)
    1. And he is a unity of body and soul; the body expresses the person, it makes visible what is invisible
    2. Thus the body bears the image of God in it (and thus it deserves respect or it "has dignity")
    3. Particularly in his sexuality which is the aspect of him that makes him most able to love as God loves: to be an image of God as a Trinity of love
    4. Through the complimentary sexes, humankind is able to give their entire self to their spouse, communing with them so much as to become one "flesh" and in a way that is fruitful
    5. Everyone feels the desire to "know" and be known… It is the desire to love and be loved in return. This is a confirmation of being made in the image of God and a drive toward fulfilling this image
    6. When we fulfill the image in which we were made, we find happiness
  4. Jesus is the image of the invisible God
    1. Jesus is how we come to know what God is like in Himself
    2. We see this most of all on the cross, the high point of revelation
    3. On the cross, Jesus shows us true love by giving His body in a full, free, faithful, and fruitful way
    4. If we are to find happiness, we too must find a way to give ourselves in a way that is full, free, faithful, and fruitful
  5. Marriage as the fullest expression of the gift of self inscribed in the body: the nuptial meaning of the body
    1. It is a sacramental participation in the true Love of God shown by Jesus on the cross
    2. God made sex to be an image of His love
    3. It images Jesus on the cross because it is a gift of self that is full, free, faithful, and fruitful (explain Jesus' gift and how married people image this as well how people destroy God's image in sex through their opps: sex outside of marriage [says that He reserved the right to change his mind about our salvation], cohabitation [75% divorce rate], porn, contraception as witholding fertility (not full) versus NFP. In fact, "Sexual desire is the desire to love as God loves." –Pope JPII
    4. The pope includes in "marriage" that gift of self by which a person offers their sexuality to God alone in the religious life or priesthood
  6. Religious life/Holy Orders also fulfills the nuptial meaning of the body
    1. It is an anticipation of union of Christ and the Church
    2. Rather than stuffing sexual energy, celibates direct it to building the kingdom of God: teaching/baptizing
    3. They give themselves fully, freely, faithfully, and fruitfully in a non-genital way like Jesus did on the cross (explain with examples)
  7. How these ideas apply to teens (singles)
    1. Singles can learn from celibates about directing sexual energy so that it makes one more like God (even though not yet fully)
    2. When it comes to dating, you can follow the TOB by remembering that the point of dating is to discern who you should marry
    3. A good question to ask is: Am I interested in entering into the kind of nuptial (and redeeming) love shown by Jesus on the cross with this person? Are they interested in it?
    4. Modesty is how we help others to see us as persons, thus we protect ourselves from being used and we love the other by helping them not to lust. If the body makes me, a person with great dignity, visible, how should I dress? In a way that highlights my dignity, rather than destroys it.
    5. When dating, the body should make visible the invisible relationship: this can be applied in an infinite number of good directions (i.e. when my fiancé and I helped to give birth to a man into eternal life on the first Divine Mercy Sunday, or by maintaining friendships with others of the opp. sex besides my date, since we are not married) within certain lower limits/boundaries
  8. Some boundaries for relationships-"defining the relationship"
    1. The body must make visible the relationship that actually exists invisibly, otherwise we are using our bodies to lie.
    2. Married people make visible through their bodies (sex) the deepest level of relationship that two human beings can have (we have seen above how they can use their bodies to lie). Thus NFP is essential.
    3. Singles do not have this kind of relationship with one another, and this is why the Church is against them having sex with one another (Jesus is the Truth, He does not want us to lie)
    4. And, part of having sex includes those actions by which we prepare the other person for it. These actions cannot be divorced from sex and still be considered loving any more than dangling a carrot in front of a person that you have intentionally starved can be considered loving.
    5. This is why we need the self mastery called chastity: to be able to love others without lying about our relationship or using the other against their God given dignity; to be able to direct our sexual energy towards true love and not towards lying or lust
    6. This takes a great deal of spiritual strength or virtue
    7. But this virtue makes us truly free (how free is a person who has no choice but to lust, who is unable to choose otherwise?)
  9. Conclusion
    1. Sex was made by God to be a visible sign of His invisible love for us, shown by Jesus on the cross (Eph 5)
    2. This is why sexual desire is a gift from God that propels us toward heaven
    3. When we take advantage of our desire appropriately, it will lead us to the greatest happiness possible, not only in heaven but also here on earth


Annie Vining can be contacted at avining@tobet.org

The Theology of the Body Evangelization Team can be reached at info@tobet.org
 

© 2005
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